Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 32. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset 4:40 for 9h 16m 29s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 1.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1946, the United States Army Signal Corps successfully conducts Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the Moon and receiving the reflected signals.
If Whitewater ever needed a refresher on special interests in the city, here’s a maxim worth remembering:
Leopards do not change their spots.
If a Getty Images photo of a leopard doesn’t convince (and honest to goodness it should), here are two posts relevant & material to this very topic —
Whitewater’s Residents Have a Front Row Seat to the Special Interest Method:
Special Interests Would Rather Not Be Seen. Ideally, they will put their operatives and catspaws on boards and commissions without much attention. For elected positions, they’ll look for districts with no one else running. Districts like that are a golden opportunity to run candidates wholly devoted to them but so objectionable to ordinary residents that those types of candidates could never win otherwise.
Special Interests Typically Speak (Deceptively) in the Language of Good Government:
Typically (but not always), special interests speak deceptively in the language of good government. They will ask for cooperation, partnerships, collaboration, openness, and transparency. To get close, they will speak the language and make the sounds of those they seek to manipulate.
Their technique is effective with well-intentioned people who assume (mistakenly) that everyone else is well-intentioned.
There are other approaches special-interest men will try, if they’re denied their unjustified requests. They may express outrage (how dare you?! insane! outrageous!). This outrage has both a cause and an intended effect. The cause is, most often, an insult to their excessive sense of entitlement. It hurts them that others do not see them as special, gifted, or better than others. So they squeal and shriek when someone reminds them that they aren’t what they think they are, or they don’t deserve an extra portion of dessert, etc.
This expressed outrage often works an effect favorable to the special-interest types: others simply back down to avoid a confrontation.
If speaking in the language of good government doesn’t work, and if outrage doesn’t work, they may try to show how they are, in their view, more deserving than others. They will not do so themselves, however; they will find a catspaw who will praise how deserving they are in grandiose terms (how much these types supposedly love, care, or feel). These claims will not be measurable (one person’s love against another, for example). Indeed, how could they be? Nonetheless, grandiosity will be their starting point.
Where they are, commentary & criticism will follow. Neither will stop until they do.
What is the smallest country in the world? Here’s its area:
In Whitewater’s political play,
Shadows of power hold sway,
A ‘Businessman’ asks for votes, but that’s a mere show,
A classic landlord move, but the old guard’s moves are too slow.
Crafted by the ‘good old boys’ hand,
A relic of stale influence, ruling the land.
Their methods, once unchallenged, now face growing dissent,
As their once-firm grip on power begins to relent.
Propelled not by wisdom, but by desperate need,
The ‘Businessman’ stands, a token of outdated greed,
Lacking in substance, in governance unversed,
A reactionary symbol, in old power immersed.
Contrast him with the candidate recently charged,
Who steered local governance, their impact large.
A break they took, yet now return to the fray,
Their record in office, bright as day.
They led without supplication, their impact profound,
In their previous term, progress for Whitewater was found.
It’s this newest return that the old guard fears most,
A leader unbound to their power-hungry host.
This tale, a mirror of broader political games,
Where special interests mask their claims.
A challenge constant, democracy’s test,
To serve the many, not at the landlord or lobbyist’s behest.
Whitewater’s drama, a story of today,
Pits two distinct choices in a striking display,
One leads back to old games still at play,
A reminder in these political times, that a leopard’s spots stay.
No dispute with new candidate. I understand this is not your intent, but the leopard sounds like the city manager to me.
Typically (but not always), special interests speak deceptively in the language of good government. They will ask for cooperation, partnerships, collaboration, openness, and transparency. To get close, they will speak the language and make the sounds of those they seek to manipulate.
Their technique is effective with well-intentioned people who assume (mistakenly) that everyone else is well-intentioned.
There are other approaches special-interest men will try, if they’re denied their unjustified requests. They may express outrage (how dare you?! insane! outrageous!). This outrage has both a cause and an intended effect. The cause is, most often, an insult to their excessive sense of entitlement. It hurts them that others do not see them as special, gifted, or better than others. So they squeal and shriek when someone reminds them that they aren’t what they think they are, or they don’t deserve an extra portion of dessert.
You are correct — this was not intended as a reference to the city manager.
In a city that’s divided and factionalized as ours is (and has been for years) people and groups will see the same traits in more than one person, including the same traits in those on opposite sides of issues.